


Baggage

by WritingCreatingStorytelling



Category: Actor RPF, American Actor RPF, Captain America (Movies) RPF, Chris Evans - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fighting, jeaousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-22 17:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6088816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingCreatingStorytelling/pseuds/WritingCreatingStorytelling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's after 3am and someone is blowing up Chris's phone. Natalia begins to question his loyalty when he starts acting shady about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! xx

**_*buzz buzz*_ **

**_*buzz buzz*_ **

**_*buzz buzz*_ **

“Who the fuck is that,” Natalia groaned into the pillow. Shifting her head to take a peek at the clock, she grew more agitated as another vibration came from Chris’s side of the bed. 3:35am. “Ugh, fuckin’ seriously.”

**_*buzz buzz*_ **

Pulling a pillow over her head, she prayed that would do the trick. She was a light sleeper, so she doubted it, but it was worth a shot. Thankfully, a minute later, everything was still. Smiling to herself, she felt light, like she was floating towards the welcoming of a peaceful dream.

It was short lived.

**_*buzz buzz*_ **

Growling in frustration, Natalia hastily tossed the pillow to the foot of the bed and stretched out an arm to pull on the lamp string, squinting her sensitive eyes at the harsh light that illuminated the room.

Chris didn’t stir once. “Fuckin’ asshole sleeps through anything.”

Begrudgingly, Natalia rolled onto her back and turned to see her boyfriend still asleep like she had suspected – dead to the world, the tiniest wet spot on the pillowcase near his mouth. A fleeting, distracted smile graced her lips, but wiped clear once the nuisance of his stupid phone reached her ears.

**_*buzz buzz*_ **

“ _Oh, my god!”_ She was about to tear every strand of hair out of her head. Her sanity relied on him at this point, needing him to get the hell up to shut up the cocksucker that was keeping her awake on a Tuesday night. 

“Babe.” Nothing. Shaking him, Natalia tried again, this time a little louder and adding a bump to his thigh with her knee. “Chris!”

“Mmm…shh…no…early…sleep…” Chris mumbled incoherently, Natalia picking up on a word or two here and there, before he whipped his head to face the other way.

Giving up, Natalia huffed and flung herself back on the bed until her hair was fanned out on the pillow. It was nearly impossible to get him to wake up if he didn’t want to. That’s why she avoided it. But on the unfortunate days that she absolutely had to, she would do so by gently rubbing his chest and coaxing him awake with the heavenly scent of freshly brewed caffeine.

Given the late hour, coffee was out of the question. So was waking him up. She would just have to suck it up and pray whoever was blowing up his phone would get the hint and cease the annoyance. Staring up at the ceiling fan with her hands folded on her stomach, she tried to block it out.

_Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur…_

_***buzz buzz*** _

_Mary’s Violet Eyes Make Johnny Stand Up Now, Period.  
_

_***buzz buzz*** _

_My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.  
_

_***buzz buzz*** _

_How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood._

**_*buzz buzz*_ **

That was it. She couldn’t take the noise anymore. It was driving her absolutely mad. _This motherfucker was going to get his ass up whether he liked it or not._

Natalia sat up and twisted at the waist to face him. Using strength that she didn’t know she possessed, she shoved him with a grunt. Chris was much heavier than she originally estimated, but she miraculously managed to roll him close to the edge of the bed. Without thinking, the persistent buzzing of his phone adding fuel to the fire blazing inside her, she swung her legs until her feet were planted on his back. Then, she sent him off.

“J-Jesus! Agh, ow!”

The humor found her at the sound of a startled Chris when he roughly landed on the bedroom floor. Covering her mouth to muffle her giggles, she peered over to see him rubbing his head.

“What the _fuck_?” Chris croaked, clearly not happy with being woken up and confused with how he ended up on the floor.

“Are you okay?” Natalia asked, the amusement pairing with the guilt in her tone.

“The fuck happened?” He muttered, pushing himself up to crawl back into bed. “Did you push me off the fucking bed?”

“No,” she lied, taking note of the active mobile. “Your phone won’t stop going off. I can’t fucking sleep.”

Chris snatched up his phone, letting out a loud yawn. A frown formed on his lips while his finger went to work with scrolling through the obscene amount of unread messages.

“Who is it?” Natalia was curious.

“Nobody.”

Her eyes narrowed at the wavered answer. “Nobody?”

Without looking at her, his eyes focused on the device in his hand, he gave a very short, “Yes.”

Natalia’s back went up. Alarm bells were going off, an angry, blinking red light flashing in her head. “Really, because judging by the tense look on your face, it sure looks like something to me.”

After powering off the mobile, Chris tossed it aside. “It’s nothing, Natalia. Don’t worry about it.” Laying back down, he said on a sigh, “Just go back to sleep.”

There was _no way_ she could go back to sleep _now_. He was hiding something from her, being secretive, not forthcoming with who was messaging him like it was an urgent matter. And, in her experience, it could only mean one thing.

Crossing her arms, she tried to ignore the escalating rate of her heart. “Is it a friend?”

Again, there was hesitation from his side of the bed. He bit the inside of his cheek before admitting, “Sorta. Just let this go. It’s late, we should-”

“A girl friend?” She guessed, the anxiety bubbling inside her chest as the seconds ticked by. He still hadn’t glanced her way. Not once. That made the sickening feeling in her stomach intensify.

“Yes.”

Natalia wanted to throw up. _This was **not** happening. Not again. Not with him._

At her newfound silence, Chris’s eyes finally rolled over to her. A surge of concern shot through him. She looked like she was in pain. Reaching for her, he asked, “Are you okay?” 

Before he could lay a single finger on her, Nat’s walls came up. “Don’t,” she warned with a hard stare, scooting away. “Don’t fucking touch me right now.”

Bewildered, Chris’s speech came out in a stumble. “Please, Nat, just - just let it go. It’s nothing. She is just some girl..”

“Stop fucking saying that! It is _not_ nothing when a chick is blowing up my boyfriend’s phone in the middle of the goddamn night!”

“Natalia-”

“It’s a booty call, isn’t it?” He didn’t answer, but the way he averted his guilty eyes to the left, away from her, said everything. “It is. It’s a fucking booty call. Wow.”

"Listen, yes, we used to hook up whenever we were in the same city. But that was a long time ago, Nat. That was before you.”

“Please,” she said, dryly. “Save your bullshit lies for someone who’s stupid enough to believe it.”

Chris’s eyes widened in anger. “Bull - bullshit _lies_?! What are you - what are you even fucking talking about?”

Natalia didn’t respond.

"Do you see me answering her?!” He barked at her, hands gesturing to the off device. 

“You turned off your phone, Chris.”

“Yes, exactly. I turned off the goddamn phone. And why do you think that is?”

“Because you’re waiting until I’m not around,” she accused him.  
  
Chris couldn’t believe this. Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. With brows furrowed together, the exasperation was evident in his voice, “You’re fucking crazy. Seriously, Natalia.”  
  
_Wow, seriously?!_ “Right, dude,” she rolled her eyes. “Keep burying the hole deeper.”  
  
“I’m not in any hole!” He thundered, his arms flailing everywhere. “There is no hole! You’re being a bitch for no fucking reason!”  
  
A humorless laugh reverberated in the bedroom. Before saying something regrettable – like she already had –, Natalia tossed herself back on the bed, rolling onto her side until her back faced him. 

She was done. So done. He could have whichever bitch who was trying to dig her claws into him, if that’s what he really wanted. 

Seeing her turn away from him pissed Chris off to the point of no return. If this was how she wanted to be, then so be it. He didn’t have to stick around for this bullshit; not when she viewed him as an unfaithful bastard.  
  
“Great, just fucking great. Perfect. Go ahead and ignore me now.”  
  
“That’s the plan, genius.”  
  
Chris could feel his blood boiling and judging by the heat that was coming off his face and ears, he knew his blood pressure was skyrocketing. _How dare she. How fucking dare she._ He had never, not once, given her any reason to doubt his loyalty. And this was the way she wanted to be? This is how she wanted them to be?  
  
“Unbelievable,” he muttered while scrambling out of bed, angrily tossing the blankets to cover his side again.  
  
Hearing him make his way to leave, panic settled in her bones. Without sitting up, she peeked over her shoulder and took note of his tense appearance. He was already approaching the door when she called out, “Where the hell are you going?”  
  
“Hitting her up,” Chris bitterly shot over his shoulder, his feet not once pausing in their step. “Have a nice fucking night.”  
  
Natalia was stunned. He knew exactly what to say to slap her in the face without physically doing so. 

Unable to find her voice, wanting to yell for him to come back, all she could do was watch his retreating form as he stormed out. Possibly forever.


	2. Bagggage

Natalia waited to hear the bitter slam of her front door. But it never came. Nor did the telling creak of the old hinges. Chris hadn’t left. That was a positive sign, one that Natalia was clinging onto that maybe not all hope was lost. Maybe she hadn’t totally fucked it up.

Even so, she still couldn’t bring herself to get up and run after him; she was stunned, struck speechless by the harshness of his parting words.

Knowing that he had stayed didn’t necessarily soften the blow of what he had insinuated. And, she feared, maybe he _was_ in the middle of acting out exactly what he had said. Somewhere, deep in her condo, maybe he really _was_ chatting up another chick – _an ex_ – while she sat completely frozen in bed, staring at the empty space he had once occupied.

She couldn’t stomach the thought.

At the back of her mind and deep within her heart, she knew that wasn’t the case. Even when she threw allegations of him being unfaithful, the rational part of her knew it to be false. Chris would _never_ do that to her. She knew him. She trusted him – _sorta_.

For the first time that evening, Natalia felt the sting of regret and guilt. This was totally her fault. She had allowed the past, a past she had spent a lot of time healing from, sneak back in to destroy the best thing that had ever happened to her. She had given that _asshole_ power over her, once again.

Like glass, she shattered. Into a million pieces. Her heart ached, her chest burned, _everything_ hurt. Unable to withstand the sobs that rocked her, she fell face first down to the mattress and sobbed into the pillow.

Why did she have to jump to the worst and not give him a chance to explain himself? Why couldn’t she just let the past go? Why was she like this?

Minutes that felt like hours dragged on. Natalia cried, and cried, and cried. She cried until the howls toned down to whimpers and the fabric was too saturated to hold any more of her sorrow. Slowly turning her head to the side, her swollen eyes rolled towards the door.

Chris hadn’t returned.

She missed him. Terribly. She yearned for his touch, for the look of unguarded love that he showered her with. She longed for **_him_**.

Shifting to reach for his pillow, she winced when something dug into her. Blindly, she slid her hand underneath her to retrieve the hard object.

His phone. Chris had left it behind. And that changed _everything_.

Wiping her eyes on the long shirt she wore – _his shirt_ –, Natalia held the heavy device, weighing it in one hand. It was still powered off and she was thankful for that; she didn’t think her heart could endure the bite of jealousy the daring messages from _her_ would cause.

Mentally questioning what she should do next, Natalia tapped her chin with the phone. She couldn’t very well go seeking for him. What if he didn’t want to see her? Scratch that. It didn’t take a genius to know that he didn’t. She could sleep. It was late, after all. _Let’s be real_ , sleep was not an option, not with the pounding in her ears and the throb at her temples. _So, now what?_

Deciding on a nice cup of tea, her abuelita’s drink of choice to cure a raging headache, Natalia kicked the covers down and got out of the bed. She padded down the hall towards kitchen, but stopped short when she found him laying on the couch, TV on low.

The creases that decorated Chris’s forehead indicated he was more than just pissed at her. He was patently angry, livid, the storm brewing inside that big head of his. However, while the fury radiated off of him, the glassy look in his eyes told a different story. They stared straight ahead, not really taking in whatever program currently on.

Natalia stood awkwardly, waiting for him to acknowledge her. He didn’t, not until she spoke first.

“Hi.”

Without averting his attention from the TV, Chris bit out, “Save the small talk; I don’t want it.”

 _Ouch. She really fucked up._

Natalia let out an inaudible sigh. There was only one way to get through this war – surrendering. Not only her pride, but the insecurities that she kept under wraps. Ready or not, it was what Natalia had to do.

“Chris…”

Chris was in no mood to fight. Actually, he was in no shape to be near her at all. But something told him that she wasn’t going to go away, she wasn’t going to grant him any more of the space that he needed to calm the raging hurt that tore through his insides. Natalia was stubborn, so much so that it drove him fucking crazy.

Finally, he lifted his eyes to look at her, ready to bite her head off. But the pain that was evident in her exhausted stance stopped him. He could tell she was hurting, that wherever this conversation was leading, it wasn’t going to be easy for her. There were tears clouding her eyes that she kept blinking away, and while that did soften him a bit, the heaviness of her accusations weren’t far from his mind.

Chris heaved a sigh. “What do you want, Natalia? I’m fucking exhausted.”

“Before I explain myself, I just need to know one thing.” Natalia waited for him to raise his brows, giving her the green light. “Why did you switch your phone off?“

Throwing his head back on the armrest, Chris growled in frustration and rubbed his haggard face. "Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I need to know-” Natalia added quickly, “-because you acted shady as fuck, Chris. Why didn’t you just text her back-”

“This is so fucking stupid. Like, seriously.”

“-and tell her to stop because you have a girlfriend?”

His head shot up, fire blazing in his puffy eyes. “Because I didn’t care! I didn’t give a fuck that she was texting. I switched it off to show you that! Jesus!”

“Do you know what that looked like to me, Chris? You looked _guilty_! What was I supposed to think?”

Sternly, he replied, “I’m going to explain it again for the second and last time. I turned my phone off to show you that I wanted nothing to do with her. You were pissed off already, and hearing the messages coming in was only pissing you off more. I was doing it to avoid this _bullshit_. But you decided to turn nothing into something when you fucking accused me of screwing around.”

She was quiet.

“Is that it? Are we done?”

Natalia shook her head, still not understanding. “You could’ve just told me right when I asked you who she was instead of beating around the bush until I dragged it out of you.”

“Oh, my god! What do you want from me?!” He shouted. “What do you want, Natalia? Because if you came here to tick me off, then congratulations, you’ve succeeded. Now, please, just fucking go back to bed.”

Natalia didn’t move. She knew what had to come next because this was going absolutely nowhere. There was no other way if she wanted to move on from this.

 _Fuck_. Her chest was already tightening, a sign that the anxiety she was keeping at bay was trying to win the battle and overwhelm her. She needed to calm down. She needed to breathe. Slowly. In. Out. Once. Twice.

Wringing her hands together, Natalia started slowly, speaking on choppy, whispered breaths, “When I suspected Mark was cheating on me, and even after I decided to stay with him, his phone would go off at all hours of the night.” She paused, then continued. “You know what he would say when I’d question him about it?”

Chris swallowed, immediately feeling sick to his stomach. Nothing sucker punched him like witnessing the betraying tears slip from her haunted eyes. He hated this, hated seeing her cry, hated that painful memories were about to be resurfaced and she had no choice but to feel them. He wanted to kiss the tears away. He wanted to kiss the pain away. He wanted to kiss _her_. 

“ _Nobody_.”

Albeit knowing the answer that was coming, hearing them voiced out loud nearly killed him. Immediately, he was jerked back to earlier. He was an asshole. A despicable asshole.

_“Who is it?”_

_“Nobody.”_

_“Nobody?”_

Chris banished the memory away before it choked him. He sat back on the armrest and watched her angrily wipe the wetness from her eyes, her chest expanding from a deep, calming breath.

After a pregnant pause, Chris said the only thing he could think of, punctuating every word clearly in an attempt to get through to her somehow, “I’m not Mark.”

“I know,” Natalia replied softly, sniffling. “I’m sorry. I-”

“Listen, I get you’ve been screwed over before, but you can’t blame me for something that _I_ didn’t _do_ , Natalia. You can’t hold that against me. It’s not fair.”

In shame, she bowed her head. “I know.”

“How are we going to make this work if you don’t trust me? I’m away often. I’m going to be around other girls; other girls are going to call me. I can’t control that. If you can’t handle that without losing your shit, if you can’t trust me, then we have a big problem on our hands.”

Not trusting her legs to keep her upright, Natalia took a seat on the armrest opposite from him, digging her barefeet in the cushion. “Chris, I do trust you.”

He gave her a hard, disbelieving stare, shaking his head in disagreement. “You don’t, Natalia. You proved that tonight. Your actions contradict that.”

Deafening silence fell around them, neither one knowing what to say, Natalia trying not to fall apart in front of him.

Seeing her in this state, knowing where she was coming from, Chris softened in empathy. He desperately wanted to reach out to her, to hold her and let her cry on his shoulder. His hands itched to rub her back, to feel her soft skin.

But if he knew one thing about Natalia letting her walls down, she needed the distance. And he wasn’t entirely over the hurt she caused him.

It was Chris’s turn to speak up first. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier about hitting her up. I was angry and hurt, and I realize I went about that the wrong way. I shouldn’t have said that.” Inhaling quickly, he added, “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“I know. I know you didn’t mean it, and I know I went completely psycho. I can be a little unstable sometimes.”

This was it. Another layer being peeled off. Another part of herself about to be revealed, brought back to the light to be studied. Natalia hated this feeling of vulnerability. But, in a way, she knew relief would wash over her after letting him in, just like the other times she had revealed parts of herself that were difficult to discuss.

“He cheated on me throughout our whole relationship. He was always going out, always leaving the room to answer his phone, but not answering my calls until hours later.”

Chris took a deep breath, listening intently, trying to calm the racing of his heart.

Staring down at her trembling hands, Natalia went on, “I became… unrecognizable; not only to my friends and my family, but also to myself. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stand knowing that he was fucking around behind my back, even when _he_ knew that _I_ knew what was going on. He’d say it was my fault when I’d confront him about it, that I had no right to bitch about his whereabouts.”

Gently, Chris prodded, “Why did you stay? If he was screwing around and you knew that, or when he admitted to it, why didn’t you just break up with him and leave?”

She never looked more broken than she did in that moment when she revealed, “Because I believed him.”

Chris sat up straighter. “Nat-”

Natalia didn’t let him interrupt. Now that the dam had been broken, nothing could stop what she kept buried inside from come pouring out. "He manipulated me. He made me believe it was me that was driving him to be unfaithful. Every time,” she laughed bitterly, tucking a strand of hair that had gotten loose from her braid behind her ear, “every fucking time there was a new excuse. I was studying too much, I was neglecting my appearance, I was putting on too much weight.”

Chris wanted to deck the prick. Natalia was perfect the way she was. How could anyone ever make her think differently? How could anyone ever treat her that poorly?

“And then my dad got sick. And everything was just so…upside down. All my dad had was me, and even if my family wasn’t all the way in Puerto Rico, I wouldn’t have been able to leave his side, anyway. He had always been my rock. He was always there for me, always fought for me, never let me down. It was my turn to return the favor. I wanted to be there for him. And in the middle of radiation appointments, hospital visits, everything, I was still trying to graduate on time. My dad made sure of that; and I couldn’t let him down. If I wasn’t in class, I was with my dad. Mark hated that.

“He didn’t show up to my dad’s services. That’s what woke me up. That’s what finally made me decide to leave.” She gave a half-shrug, “And I did. And I never looked back. Later on, I found out that he was off getting high with one of his side chicks while I was saying goodbye to only man I ever trusted to never hurt me.”

“Natalia,” Chris breathed, utterly shocked. His heart hurt for her, for the devastation she had to endure.

Hearing her name fall from his lips ever so gently did her in. Her face contorted in anguish as she broke down for what felt like the hundredth time that night.  

“I just…” Natalia sobbed out while the endless tears streamed down, “I-I just needed to be held. I needed to be held.”

Unable to restrain himself, Chris jumped to reach for her, pulling her on his lap to hold her close. Natalia clung to him, crying in his neck while the grief of loss and slap of betrayal clashed together, suffocating her.

“Shhh..” He said, pressing a tender kiss to the side of her head, rocking them back and forth. “It’s okay… I got you. I got you, baby.”

Chris held her, the way she had been needing to be held since her father’s diagnosis several years ago. He continued to soothingly rock back and forth, even after her cries had subsided. Because the pain was still there. The grief was still there. And so was the uncertainty of where their relationship was going come morning.

“I’m sorry that I hurt you,” Natalia said with a thick voice, holding onto him with everything that she had. “I’m sorry, Chris. I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you, too.”

Reassuringly, Chris said, “You’re not going to lose me. I’m not going to leave, baby. But we need to start communicating better.”

She nodded in agreement.

“That bastard better pray to god our paths never cross again.” He felt the smile against his neck and it immediately lightened the load that felt heavy on his shoulders and heart.

“That bitch better know she doesn’t stand a chance against me.”

“ _Fuck_ ,” he said, lightly, jokingly, “I don’t even stand a chance against you.”

Natalia giggled and lifted her heavy head from his shoulder to meet his dancing eyes. “Remember that the next time you decide to shut your phone off instead of proclaiming your love for your girlfriend.”  
  
Chris rolled his eyes with a chuckle, still languidly caressing her back. “I knew you weren’t over that.”

She pressed her smiling lips on his in a lingering kiss. “Love you like crazy.”

He laughed, eyes sparkling. “I love you, too, crazy pants.”

“Thank you for staying.”

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be, baby,” he said with his head cocked to the side. “There’s no one else I’d rather be with.”

She believed him. She really, really did.

Tightening her arms around him, Natalia bashfully requested, “Hold me a little longer?”

“Of course,” Chris honestly replied. “I’ll hold you forever, sweetheart.”

They cuddled back on the couch, the glow of the television illuminating the room. Natalia sighed, feeling lighter. In his arms, she was safe. Her heart was safe. And with the new promises of better communication, she drifted off to sleep with the happiness that they were going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! xx


End file.
